”You wouldn’t think this wonderful, very macho, sexy Hollywood guy … has this wonderful high-pitched silly giggle,” castmate Alison Arngrim added
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Michael Landon’s daughter misses her father — and his laughter.
At the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, Leslie Landon Matthews — one of the late actor’s nine children — fielded a fan question about her best memory of Michael, who died from pancreatic cancer in 1991.
During a Little House on the Prairie panel Saturday, June 15, Leslie, who starred on the historical drama with her late father, said, “Well, since he was my dad, we would be here for many, many hours talking about great memories.”
“But I was just telling [Melissa Sue Anderson] that one of the things I miss the most about my dad is his laugh,” she said, adding that “most of my memories are about laughter that he brought to our family.”
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As the beloved series celebrated its 50th anniversary, Leslie said, “It’s just been incredible to see just the celebration.”
When the cast was in Simi Valley, Calif., for a reunion celebration, the actress said, “I can’t tell you how many people came up to my brother Michael [Jr.] and I and just talked about how much the show meant to them, and how the generations of people are now seeing the show and the impact that it has just not only on their families but in their hearts.”
In addition to five decades of Little House, Leslie also celebrated her father’s on-screen character, beloved patriarch Charles Ingalls, winning Today’s best TV dad bracket last week.
“I don’t know if you guys knew this, on The Today Show, they had a big competition for the best television dad of all-time,” she said. “And it started in the beginning of the week and it had many brackets, from television dads now, from television dads in the past.”
And, in a “pretty good landslide,” Charles beat runner-up Jack Pearson from This Is Us. “So Charles has it, baby,” Leslie added.
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Other Little House cast members also shared their favorite memories of Michael, including Wendi Lou Turnbaugh, who was “very little” during her time on the show, but still remembered the actor being “warm and caring.”
“Most of the kids say that he was funny and did jokes and I didn’t see that side of him because I was too young,” Turnbaugh said. “My father wasn’t in the picture during Little House on the Prairie, so I looked up to [Michael].”
“Even though he didn’t come home for dinner, I felt like he was a little bit of my dad,” she added.
RELATED: Little House on the Prairie’s Melissa Gilbert Says Michael Landon Was a ‘Father Figure’: ‘We Were Very Close’ (Exclusive)
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Alison Arngrim was also young while starring on the historical drama, but remembers the late actor’s laughter well.
“It is the laughter that I experienced because I was 12 when I started,” she said, adding that it is “so distinctive that I can still hear his laugh in my head.”
“And you wouldn’t think this wonderful, very macho, sexy Hollywood guy … has this wonderful high-pitched silly giggle,” Arngrim continued. “And it just used to crack me up and I can still hear it. It still rings in my ears.”
